Apple brings Windows 10 support to Mac in Boot Camp update

AppleInsider Staff |

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Apple announced through a Support Pages document published Wednesday that the latest version of Boot Camp, which is currently rolling out to OS X Yosemite users as a system update, now comes with support for 64-bit versions of Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system.

In its document Apple details the process of installing a fresh copy of Windows 10 on a target Mac, while also covering upgrades from previous 32-bit or 64-bit Windows versions. In both cases, Boot Camp requires an ISO file to correctly install Windows 10 in its hard drive partition. Microsoft currently provides its 64-bit operating system as an ISO file, installation DVD or on a USB flash drive installer.

Along with Windows 10 software features, Apple says Boot Camp installs support the usual keyboard, trackpad and mouse hardware, along with USB 3 ports, USB-C on the 12-inch Retina MacBook, Thunderbolt, SD or SDXC card slots, built-in or USB Apple SuperDrive.

Apple also provides a list of Macs that support 64-bit versions of Windows 10:

  • MacBook Pro with Retina display (13-inch, Late 2012 to Early 2015)
  • MacBook Pro with Retina display (15-inch, Mid 2012 to Mid 2015)
  • MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)
  • MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012)
  • MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2012 to Early 2015)
  • MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2012 to Early 2015)
  • MacBook with Retina display (12-inch, Early 2015)
  • iMac (Retina 5k, 27-inch, Late 2014 to Mid 2015)
  • iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012 to Mid 2014)
  • iMac (27-inch, Late 2012 to Late 2013)
  • Mac mini (Late 2014)
  • Mac mini Server (Late 2012)
  • Mac mini (Late 2012)
  • Mac Pro (Late 2013)

Installing Windows 10 on a Mac that sports a Fusion Drive, Apple's branding for hybrid SSD/HDD systems, creates the Windows partition on the mechanical drive. As such, operating speeds might be slower than OS X on the same computer, as Apple installs its Mac OS on the SSD side for optimal performance.

As of this writing Boot Camp 6 is slowly making its way to end users and may not yet be available in all areas. Users can manually check for system updates via the Mac App Store.

Boot Camp compatibility with Windows 10 comes one day after Apple released a pair of minor Boot Camp Support updates (1, 2) for running 64-bit versions of Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 on Mac.